


Out of the Closet

by cmonlauraweremarriednow



Series: I'll Tell Them Soon [2]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-08
Updated: 2017-11-08
Packaged: 2019-03-06 05:36:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13404561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cmonlauraweremarriednow/pseuds/cmonlauraweremarriednow
Summary: Scully finally tells her family about her relationship with Mulder.





	Out of the Closet

**Author's Note:**

> The sequel to my previous fic _[I'll Tell Them Soon](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13404465)_. It picks up right where the other left off, so you should definitely read that one first!

“Really?” Mulder asks quietly, tinged with cautious hope. “Are you sure?”

“Well I can’t keep you as my Spooky secret forever,” Scully teases.

His eyes brighten and that smile – the one that could drag her to the ends of the earth and back again, that could somehow feel more like home than anything else, that could convince her to believe – breaks her heart all over again. She stifles the lump rising in her throat by capturing his lips between her own. He slides his free arm around her, pulling her into his chest, their still twined hands trapped between them against the familiar thump of his heart.

“Come on, let’s go crush my brother’s dreams.”

“Why Scully, I’d thought you’d never ask.”

—

The aphrodisiacal properties of elevators are an X-File unto themselves, an otherworldly portal manipulated by the ineffable magnetic pull of heated kisses in corners and hands sneaked under dresses on a ride through time and space that ends all too quickly. It’s the one mystery Mulder doesn’t care about solving; he’s far too distracted by other things.

“Ready?” she squeezes his hand in reassurance again.

“I am if you are.”

“Remember, just let me do the talking. I’ll handle Bill. You just smile and charm my mother.”

“Got it,” he grins down at her and presses a final gentle kiss to her lips, dropping her hand to place his on her lower back. The doors slide open and their fate looms before them in form of the six-foot figure skulking in the parking lot.

“Fox!” Maggie exclaims when she spies them, wrapping her arms around him in a display of motherly affection so often missing from his life. “It’s so good to see you again. We were just about to head to lunch, please say you’ll join us.”

“I’d be delighted to, Mrs. Sc- Maggie,” Mulder replies, correcting himself at her reproachful look.

Bill’s mouth drops open to protest, but Maggie’s Look of Death snaps it closed again.  

“Bill, you remember my partner, Fox Mulder.”

“I wish I didn’t,” he nearly growls, declining Mulder’s proffered handshake with a curled lip of disdain.

“If you don’t get that look off your face, Bill, it’s going to stick that way,” Maggie admonishes.

He mutters an unintelligible string of words, slamming the car door as he climbs into the driver’s seat.

Maggie places an affectionate hand on Mulder’s arm, “Pay him no mind, Fox. You know you’re always welcome. Why don’t you two just meet us at the restaurant? I think my son and I need to have a little chat.”

She gives Mulder an encouraging smile before sliding into the passenger seat and closing the door firmly, the force of her quiet wrath visible through the windows. Bill flinches and cowers; Mulder smirks.

—

They manage to be seated by the restaurant hostess without any further incident, though the furor of Bill’s sulky glare does not abate. The possessiveness of Mulder’s hand on the small of his sister’s back burns in the pit of his stomach. Unlike everyone else, he has not forgotten Mulder’s role in the abduction and subsequent illness that almost took his sole living sister from him permanently. Nor is it something he plans to forgive.

“Mom, Bill, Mulder and I have something to tell you,” Scully begins, placing her hand over Mulder’s on the tabletop. “We-“

“IBROKEYOURTENNISRACQUET” Mulder blurts.

Bill’s face was most definitely going to stick in that scowl. “You  _what_?”

“Look man, I’m really sorry. It was a total accident. I will absolutely replace it. In fact, I’ll buy you an even better one, whatever one you want, just name it.” Mulder trips over the words, his brain in hyper drive, working faster than his lips could move.

“I don’t fucking believe this!” Bill stands, white-knuckling the edge of the table. Other patrons turn to stare.

“William Scully Jr!” Maggie exclaims in mortification, color rising in her cheeks. She yanks on his arm with a bruising grip, entirely done with his shit. “You sit down right this minute!”

“Mulder!” Scully hisses under her breath, backhanding him gently on the upper arm. “What is the matter with you?! We agreed that I was going to do the talking!”  

“I’m sorry Scully, I panicked,” Mulder implores, wide-eyed. “I didn’t know what to do - it just came out!”

“ _Actually_ ,” Scully declares loudly over the sounds of her brother sputtering in outraged disbelief – _Who does he think he is? My racquet… motherfucker…the nerve… kick his spooky ass –_ his arms crossed petulantly after being publicly scolded. “What I was going to say is that, you know that Mulder and I have been partners for a while now and recently things have changed between us and we’ve become something more…”

“More than partners? What is that supposed to mean?” Bill’s voice rises again.

“Yes, Bill,” Scully condescends, as if she was speaking to a child. “More than work partners. We’re together. Dating. My outside of work partner.”

“Oh finally!” Maggie claps her hands in delight, not at all surprised by this revelation. “I always knew there was something special going on with the two of you.”

Bill’s sputtering has turned to speechlessness, his crossed arms to clenched fists, his heated gaze to a full-fledged hellfire. He is a horned bull in the ring, steaming at the nostrils, and Mulder is the red cape.

“I guess that broken racquet doesn’t seem so bad now?” Mulder offers weakly. 

**Author's Note:**

> Comments make me the happiest clam in all the sea  
> You can also follow me on Tumblr [@realmofextremepossibility!](http://realmofextremepossibility.tumblr.com)


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